 The Nitelite
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The Nitelite
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| Where Two Or More Are Gathered In My Name There Shall I Be Also. |
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Well, it's time for sin to raise it's ugly head. As we speak of this, I want you to keep one thing in mind. God loves you. For us to understand how much, we must know more about Him and ourselves. The gap between us and the bridge that can span that gap. |
| First let's give a reasonable legal definition of a crime. An offense occurs when a person commits or omits an act in violation of a law prohibiting or commanding it. In other words, sometimes we are instructed not to do something and sometimes we are told we must do something. |
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There are things He says not to do and things He says we should do. Sin then is an offense to God which we, of our own accord commit or omit contrary to the will of God. |
| No, I'm not a lawyer and I sure don't want to confuse you with legal talk, so let's just hang in here together and things will become clearer. We will be moving now to the Commandments. Before we do, we need to understand that sin existed before the Commandments were given to Moses. |
| What I would like for us to do is examine the commandments and understand the meanings. To do justice to our efforts, some of these explanations are long, please bare with me. As we do this, don't become discouraged by the fact they seem impossible to keep. |
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Let's set the stage. Moses, by God's direction has led the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt. They have arrived at the desert of Sinai, camping before the foot of Mount Sinai. There, first Moses then later both Moses and his brother Aaron ascend the mountain where they receive from God, instructions which are to be given to the children of Israel. Which we call, The Ten Commandments. You can read the full text of the commandments for yourself. What I want to do here is talk about the meaning of what is said. Everyone won't agree with me about everything and that's fine. Like I said before, I'm not here to hammer home what I think, but rather to move us in a direction. The pages are here for those who wish to use them. |
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| This statement is self explanatory. There is but one God. He is our Creator. While this says you shall have no God before me, It means no false God. For any other God, would not be a God, but only a false God, created by man or presented to man by the forces of evil. |
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This command in part, is liken to the first. Graven means, shaped or carved, usually from a hard surface. God warns us not to make any likeness of anything, nor are we to bow before or serve such things. I know what will pop into the mind of many, so let's deal with it. There are indeed Christian Denominations whose Churches are adorned with such things. Some also include a form of offering before them, such as candles to light. As I understand it, their followers are told that they are there only to bring to mind, the person they represent and are not in and of themselves, a thing to be worshiped. I don't want to dwell on this, as I am not here to attack any denomination. We each shall, as we study God's Word, decide ourselves what we believe God is saying to us. It would do us good to examine the rest of this command. For those who think God has no emotions, let them read. For I am a jealous God. He then talks about a penalty for those who hate him and a blessing or those who love Him. The closing part of this command might or might not affect the approach some denominations take. For remember, God perceives the heart of a man. |
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Many people differ on the meaning of vain. Some think it's speaking God's name out of reverence. This would include cursing. Certainly such talk is offensive to God. I would not argue the point either way. Personally, I think this refers more to making a vow or empty promise in His name. For instance, we say before a court. So help me God, or when we tell someone, I promise in the name of God I will do this. In any case, God's good name is not to be tossed around without sober truth of meaning behind it. |
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The Sabbath here refers to the Jewish Sabbath and not Sunday. Here too, we will find the question pop up between Denomination as to what this means. There are many who believe this is carried over to the Christian Churches and applies to Sunday. Some Church leaders will tell you it means every time the Church door opens, you're to be there. Others have said it is Sunday and means, if you're not in Church you are under penalty of sin. Some of these Churches have since altered this to allow Saturday to count in lieu of Sunday, or even Wednesday. As I have said before, I am not hereto promote or slander any denomination. I would, however, be remiss in my duty to you not to remind you, God's Word is forever settled in the Heavens. His word should not be altered to fit the conveniences of men. Rather than go into Denominational interpretations, let me say what I think. There are, I believe, no less than five places in the New Testament which say,The Sabbath was given unto the Jew. The only real reference in the New Testament that I can think of which could apply to Sunday Church going is found in Heb 10:25, which says, Forsaking not the assembling of ourselves together. Am I saying you don't have to go to Church. No, I'm not talking about that at all. I'm saying, in my opinion, this commandment just has nothing to do with the Christian Church as far as it being offensive to God if you don't show up on Sunday. I do my best to neither add to or take away from anything I believe the Word says. Sometimes, I can only tell you what I think, What you think is between God and you. In the end, each of us will be accountable for our actions. To a point, that is. We will discuss that later. |
| Oh, I'm glad we're here, sort of gives me a bit of a break about choosing my words. This one sort of speaks for itself. This also carries with it a promise of long life for those who obey. |
| But now, hey listen. I know there are many of us who come from circumstances which might hinder this. Some of us may have been deserted by one or even both parents. Some of us may have been abused in one way or another. God knows these things. Just remember we are not talking about what our parents did or didn't do. We are talking about our own actions and our responsibilities before God. One of which is to forgive, even as we are forgiven. |
| Make no mistake, there is such a thing as justifiable anger. We will talk about these things in time. God granting us the time, there won't be much that we won't talk about at some point. |
| Well, here's one I don't think we have to spend much time on. Let me say this, and I don't think many, if any, theologians would disagree. This would be better interpreted as murder, not kill. A person who kills another in defense of his or someone else's life. A soldier or a police officer, may kill someone in the performance of their duty, but they have not committed murdered. In short, I think most would agree, there's a difference between killing and murdering. |
| Adultery means any adulterous act. Meaning this is not limited to sexual intercourse alone. I believe it to mean any lascivious sexual act committed by a married person with another person not their spouse. Because of something mentioned in the New Testament, I will expand this to include an unmarried person who is party to the actions of the married person mentioned. |
| Steal, When we take that which don't belong to us. I don't think this is limited to physical things. You could steal another's idea. You could, by manipulation, steal a position from another person. I'm sure you can think of other things we might do, which really amounts to stealing. |
| To bear false witness is to lie about something. I guess we all heard of a little white lie. One could argue a lie is a lie. Sometimes we say something or perhaps we don't say anything. We do this not to hurt someone else, but to prevent pain and heartache. I won't discuss the right or wrong of that here. I do think, however that this means to lie, in a harmful way. Perhaps to escape blame or to let another take the blame for something we did, or for other reasons of malic. |
| Well, we have reached the last one on the list. To covet, mean to lust after. Lots of times we wished we had a job a friend might have, or wish our house was as nice as a neighbors or think the neighbor's spouse is very attractive. To covet these things would be, to be obsessed with wanting them, to be jealous over them, to lust in our hearts after the things which belong to others and are not ours. |
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Well good. Now listen, this was a long page. Take a break if you want, but come back for the next page where this discussion will continue. We need to understand the difference between sin and temptations, between what has been said here and what the New Testament says about it. We also need to understand what happans when we fail and of course we need to talk about that bridge I mentioned. |
God loves you.
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